Sports Pain Management

An active body is a body that is prone to injury. Repetitive motion of a body part can cause wear and tear. Traumatic injuries also occur in sports. This can be caused by a fall or improper body placement during an activity. For example, a wrong step can cause a sprained ankle.

When a sports injury occurs, it’s important to put a proper pain management plan into place. Because you never known when you’re going to receive a sports injury, it’s important to have this pain management plan in place just in case.

Immediate Pain Management

athlete_runningDepending upon the severity of the pain that you experience from a sports injury, you may seek out instant relief immediately. Over the counter pain relievers like Acetaminophen (paracetemol), Ibuprofen, or naproxen sodium may help if the pain is not severe. It’s important to remember that Acetaminophen will not reduce swelling because it doesn’t work as an anti-inflammatory. To help reduce swelling, you’ll want to ice the injured area. You may also want to consider compression therapy, such as wrapping the injury in a bandage or a support brace purchased at your local drugstore.

Knowing When to Seek Medical Attention

While the most common sports injuries tend to be minor, major injuries can occur. Minor injuries can also become aggravated and develop into major injuries if they are not treated properly. Because of these reasons, you need to be aware of the signs of a major injury.

Signs of a Major Injury

When evaluating a sports injury, look for serious bleeding or swelling. Consider how the injury happened and what area of the body is affected. Consider the appearance of the injured body part. Does it look abnormal? Try to describe the pain. Is it sharp, dull, aching, or throbbing?

If you’re experiencing any pain in the head, neck, back, or abdomen, you need to seek medical attention. If there is excessive bleeding or swelling, you need to seek medical attention. If the injured body part looks abnormal, seek medical attention. If the pain is sharp and continuous, you may want to seek medical attention. Seeking medical attention may be costly, but it will save you time, money, and prevent further pain down the road.  When you get to the point where you need to buy serious pain relief such as opiate medicines like codeine and dihydrocodeine, then the time has come to talk to your doctor about pain management.

Discuss Pain Management With Your Healthcare Provider

hrhhhIf your injury is minor, then a healthcare provider can assist you with a pain management plan that isn’t invasive and allows you to return to normal activity as soon as possible. If you’ve suffered a serious sport injury, discuss the available options with your healthcare provider. You need to be in charge of the decisions made in your pain management. If you don’t like the direction in which your healthcare provider is leaning, get another opinion. It’s your body. Choose a pain management plan that you feel comfortable with.

Don’t Walk Off a Sports Injury

How many times has an athlete been told to simply “walk it off”? That’s bad advice. You need to evaluate and respond to sports injuries with a planned pain management plan to prevent further injury.

Common sporting injuries and how to alleviate the pain

We are often encouraged to get active and play a sport early in life. Kids are taught early in their life various different sporting activities that are not only fun, but teach discipline and tolerance as they get older. While sporting activities keep you active and often encourages good health and an ideal lifestyle, sporting injuries are unavoidable and most sport players will experience a series of injuries throughout their professional or non-professional career. Whether you play a sport for fun and enjoyment or as a professional career, once you have experienced a serious sporting injury that causes pain, you must seek treatment immediately.

gggWhile most sporting accidents can easily be treated with the use of painkillers, more severe injuries will require more invasive treatments that may include constant pain management techniques.

Sporting injuries, like the industry, comes in various different forms and affect different areas of the body. If you are an avid sports player, knowing some of the possible injuries that may occur can keep you on the ball and ready for almost anything in the event of an accident. To learn of some possible sporting injuries that you may experience during the life of your career, continue reading and get informed.

Common types of sporting injuries

Strains – strains are injuries that may affect your tendons (tissues connecting your muscles to your bones) and or muscles. There are various degrees to strains, which are more commonly referred to as muscle pulls.

Tendinitis – can affect any player, especially if they are known to apply poor mechanics. This injury is the inflammation of tendons.

Sprains – are possibly the most common sporting injuries and a sprain is an injury to ligaments.

Fasciitis – is the inflammation of the fibrous tissues covering tendons and muscles. The most common type of fasciitis is what is known as plantar fasciitis, which can affect regular people who walks or jogs a lot.

If you experience any of the mentioned sports injuries or some of the more severe injuries, applying simple home treatments may alleviate the pain. The acronym PRICE best explains the process of taking care of pain in the home.

girl-in-painProtection – protect your injuries immediately by applying bandages and other protective materials.

Rest – give your injury time to heal by allowing it to rest.

Ice – is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to treat a sporting injury.

Compression – applying pressure will cause an inflammation and swelling to decrease.

Elevation – by elevating your feet, fluid will be drained from the injured area.

While PRICE will help to heal early and minor injuries, this method will not work with all injuries and you may need medication or even rehabilitation to treat your pain caused by sporting injuries. Medications with the ingredient Acetaminophen are perfect for pain; however, this may not be enough and you may need time to rehabilitate.

Rehabilitation is not as drastic as it sounds and there are various rehabilitation centers that offer effective care to sport players who need their services. So, if you have a severe injury that needs treatment, do not hesitate to seek help.